Harry Potter and the Loddus Stone
by Eikona
Summary: My first hp fic, so be nice ok? It's Harry's fifth year back at Hogwarts, and new problems begin to show themselves. PG13 for later scenes of language and violence. *Chapter 6 up now!*
1. Visions

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Harry Potter and the  
Loddus Stone  
  
  
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~Chapter 1  
  
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"...The dark wind blows..."   
  
Pale, ice blue eyes shot open with a start as a loud burst of thunder echoed through a dark room. A young girl sat up in a grand old bed and looked around her dark room. A quick flash of lighting illuminated the room briefly. The young girl took a quick glance at a dark wall on the opposite side of the room. With a quick nod, a fire burst up in a fireplace where she had been looking. She quickly pushed back her satin blankets and walked over to a mirror that sat in an open wardrobe. Staring back at her was a young girl of 11 years old; she had long white hair that came to her ankles and was pulled back with a black bow at her knees. She had pale, piercing, ice blue eyes, and a fair complexion; her face wore a blank, emotionless expression that her eyes betrayed. This was the only part of herself the young girl liked; her eyes.   
  
She shook her head and pushed the wardrobe closed and walked over to her window and looked out and looked back at her door. She listened intently, there was no sound aside from the rumbling of the thunder and the crackling of the fire. The young girl sat down on the widow sill and pushed her windows open, glancing back at the door and then back out at the stormy skies. She pulled a silver necklace out from under her black nightgown. It had a rather large black stone, about the size of her fist, closed in a silver cage that was dangling off a fine silver chain. She held the stone up at eye level and stared into it. She seemed to see something no one else could.   
  
She stared at the stone for a long while before softly whispering the words "...the dark wind blows..." The stone began to emit quick, short flashes of light, showing scenes that only the young girl seemed to understand. Slowly, the flashes became longer until it stopped on a scene that the girl stared at intently. There, in the black stone was a young boy with black ruffled hair and glasses. On his forehead he wore a scar the shape of a lighting bolt.   
  
"...who is this...?" She whispered to the stone quietly. The stone emitted a white stream of light that touched her forehead. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Just then the door suddenly opened and a figure stepped into the room. The girl jerked her eyes open and put the stone down quickly, and looked back at the intruder, eyes narrowed dangerously, now only showing contempt and loathing.   
  
" You're being summoned." An elderly man said in a cold voice. The young girl wanted dearly to tell the man to leave her alone, but she knew better of this and gave him a quick nod. The man turned on heel and marched out of the room, closing the door behind him. She frowned and turned her gaze back to the stone in her hand and shook her head. She put the necklace back on and tucked it under her nightdress and walked out of the room. She marched silently down a large dark hall, turned on a staircase, and briskly walked down and turned right and marched through a door that swung open as she neared it. The young girl came to a sudden halt it front of a very large oak door and looked at it. Glancing over, to her right, she spotted a large snake and froze. But quickly recovered, seeing that it was only statue. She glanced back behind her and, with a deep sigh, pushed the door open and peered in. It was a study. There was a large fire on an opposite wall, and many books on the shelves around the room. She jumped as a man's cold voice spoke to her.   
  
" Ah, yes. I've been waiting for you. Come in, come in." The voice came from a large chair that sat near the fire. The young girl pushed the door open and walked the rest of the way in and closed the door behind her. She stood there for a long moment, completely motionless. " Now, now child. No need to be so shy, come here, closer." She hesitated a moment before walking up the back of the chair, only about a foot from it.   
  
" That's better. Now child, tell me, what are doing up so late?" The voice asked, very quietly.   
  
" You called me-"   
  
" Don't lie child. You were already awake. What were you doing? Did it have anything to do with you're little charm?" The girl knew better than to be shocked that he had found out. Of course he'd have known. She frowned but remained silent. " What did it show you child? What have you seen now?" She frowned and seemed to be pondering her answer. If she said nothing, he would know she was lying. She thought for a moment more before taking a deep breath.  
  
" I'm not sure." And this was no lie. She didn't understand what she had seen. Who was the boy? What did he have to do with anything? A sigh came from the chair that brought her back to reality.   
  
" Child, you know better than to be less that truthful."   
  
" I am being truthful. I have said nothing insincere. I am not sure of what I saw. Nor will I be anytime soon now that you have interrupted me." She said coldly. The cold man's voice laughed lightly, as a hand picked up a glass off of the table near by.   
  
" You are the only one, child. The only one that would speak to me like that. You are very brave. That will serve you well one day. Though I hesitate to say if that will be in my favor?" The girl didn't reply to this. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on the chair in a light glare. After a moment of silence, the girl spoke again.   
  
" If have nothing more to ask me, I will excuse myself, for I do not wish bother you. Good night." With that, she turned on heel and walked to the door. As she opened the door, the voice spoke one last time.   
  
"Close that window child. You'll get sick. And we wouldn't want that now would we?" Without answering, she marched out the door and headed to the staircase. When she finally reached her room, she closed the door and locked it. Marching over to the window, the girl pulled out her necklace and sat on windowsill and held up to her eye level and closed her eyes, concentrating. The light came from the stone and touched her forehead, after a long moment the answer to one of her many questions came.   
  
" Harry...Harry Potter?" She opened her eyes and looked quizzically at the stone. She frowned. "Well...what does this...Harry Potter...have to do with anything?" After a brief moment the stone emitted another beam of light, this one emerald green. She stared at the stone for a long moment, almost as if it was telling her something that no one else could understand, or even hear for that matter. The beam of light turned a deep blue, then to a red. The girl quickly closed her eyes as a look of pain swept over her soft features. After a long minute she opened her eyes, which had turned from soft, piercing ice blue to deep-set crimson red. She raised the stone slightly higher and began focusing at a swirl of color that had formed inside it.   
  
"Ventoto vendiriem venaitmonton..." The words came as the softest whisper, but had great effect. The girl let go of the stone and it floated in mid air, unaided, as multicolored light came out from all angles. After a moment, all the lights faded away within the blink of an eye and fell into the girl's out-stretched hand. Her eyes stayed red for a few seconds after, and then slowly changed back to the soft ice blue. The girl looked at the stone in her hand and frowned. She knew what had to be done, but doing it would be the hard part. She had to get to the boy, Harry Potter. She didn't even have to weigh the consequences. The girl jumped up and put the necklace on and walked over to her wardrobe. The door swung open when she got near it and a small bag floated out. She caught it and grabbed a few black robes and stuffed them into her bag along with an extra pair of boots. She walked over to the small table that sat beside her bed and opened the drawer. Picking up a small golden key, she closed the drawer with her hip and dropped her bag on her bed. The girl opened it and put the key in small mahogany box that was in there and walked to the small bench at the end of her bed and picked up a pair of black robes.   
  
After changing, the girl grabbed her bag and walked to the door. She turned around and looked at the fire, which instantly died. She opened her door and walked out closing behind her and turning to it. She closed her eyes and brought her hand and mumbled something inaudible before turning on heel and marching down the hallway silently. She brushed a strand of white hair out her eyes as she looked around at the bottom of the stairs. After ensuring that no one was coming, she bolted noiselessly toward the large oak front doors. They quietly swung open, allowing her to pass.   
  
The girl didn't look back as she walked away. Not until she was at the woods that surrounded it. She looked back and walked into the woods, pulling out her stone and looking at it. Looking inside it she smiled and let it drop outside of her black robes and kept walking. The stone showed the young boy with black hair and the lighting bolt scar asleep.   
  
And 500 miles away, and 25 years later, the boy named Harry Potter woke with a start.   
  
  
~End Chapter One  
  
  
  
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Authors Notes: It sucks, but reviews, comments, flames, whatever are all welcome. More soon to come if this doesn't suck totally ;)   



	2. Birthday Surprise

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Chapter 2  
  
  
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Harry Potter sat quickly and grabbed his glasses off of the table beside his bed. It took him a moment to remember why he had woken up. He had heard something…like some one tapping on glass. He jumped as the sound rang through the room again, and turned his attention to the window. He smiled when he seen what had woke him up. It was a large snowy owl, accompanied by two other owls; a small one that appeared to hooting happily as it zoomed around the large snowy one, and a large gray. Harry recognized two of the owls. The large snowy was his own Hedwig, and the smallest of the three was Pigwedigen, or more commonly known as 'Pig', who belonged to his friend Ron. He assumed the large gray one was an owl from his school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.   
  
Harry pushed back his blankets and turned on his lamp as he walked to the window and pushed it open as all three owls soared in and one by one dropped their loads on his bed. Hedwig then flew over to her cage that sat on his desk and began drinking water, Pig flew around the room hooting happily, and the gray owl stretched its wings before soaring out the open window again. Harry smiled widely and settled himself down on his bed and picking up one of the letters that Hedwig had dropped, he instantly recognized the handwriting as belonging to his godfather Sirius Black. This was the first letter he had gotten from Sirius since his second week back on Privet Drive, and back with the Dursleys. Harry unfolded the letter quickly and began to read:  
  
'Harry--  
  
Happy Birthday! Sorry I can't be there, but I'm sure you understand. I was going to get you a gift, in fact I did. But it was too big to send with Hedwig, so you'll just have to wait.   
Everything is fine here, I'm still laying low at Moony's place. (he says hello and happy birthday) Everything's going well there, I'm sure. Those Muggles better be treating you well, or I'll turn them all into dingbats. Of course I doubt they would do anything, considering how you conveniently forgot to mention my innocence. I'm glad my years in Azkaban could come of use to someone.  
  
(Harry laughed, remembering the look on Uncle Vernon's face when he had mentioned that his godfather was convicted of murdering 12 people, including a wizard. But he had seen no reason to tell them that Sirius had been innocent. He returned to the letter.)  
  
  
' Again, I'm sorry I couldn't send you're present to you. You should get it around the time you reach Hogwarts, seeing as Dumbledore will have it to give you. By that time it will be a late birthday present, but it's all the same right?  
If you need me, or if anything odd happens, I want to hear about it. I'll write again soon'  
  
-Sirius  
  
Harry folded the letter up and smiled, wondering all the while what Sirius had got him. Next he turned to the letter that Pig had dropped, and recognized the untidy scrawl as his friends Ron's writing. He opened his letter, shooting Pig an annoyed look as unfolded it and began reading it.  
  
  
' Dear Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday!  
Everything here is okay. Percy came home for part of the summer, Dad had to drag him out his office. It didn't make a difference though. Percy keeps himself locked in his room almost all the time. Fred and George want to thank you about giving them your prize money you got from the Triwizard Tournament, they've been putting it to good use. They re-made everything. All their fake wands, Canary Creams ,and Ton-Tongue toffees.'  
  
(Harry laughed at this, remembering what had happened when hid cousin Dudley had ate a Ton-Tongue Toffee, and his tongue grew to four feet.)  
  
'They've even made new stuff, Frog Fudge, and booger bars, and some other stuff. Mom isn't as upset this time around about Weasley Wizard Wheezes, I think it has something to do with the fact that they got better marks this year. Bill and Charlie took time off work and are staying here right now, Mom insisted on it.   
Mom says she wants you to come and stay with us for the rest of the summer. Hermione is coming to stay with us too. Do you think the Muggles would let you? Not that it matters, you're still staying whether they like it or not.   
Let us know what the Muggles say, Mom says it'd just be nicer if we pretended that we cared about what they think. If you come send Pig back and we'll see you around five o'clock on Saturday. If they say no, send Pig back and we'll see you at five o'clock on Saturday anyways.   
  
-Ron  
  
Harry smiled as he put the letter down and turned to a small package that Pig had just dropped in his lap. He picked it up and opened it. Inside there was an assortment of different colored toffees, some frog shaped chocolate pieces, three wands, and some chocolate bars, along with some other stuff. There was another letter.  
  
Harry,  
  
Here are some of Fred and George's new jokes, and few of the old ones. They insisted that you got some for you're birthday to pull one over on that great bully git of a cousin you have. All of them do something different, but you'll find out when you use them.  
  
-Ron  
  
Harry laughed and put the bag of jokes down beside Ron and Sirius's letters and turned to pick up one of the three left on his bed. (not counting to the two packages) This one was from Hermione, he could tell by the neat handwriting. He picked up the package it was on top of and put it in his lap and opened the letter and began reading it.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday Harry!  
I'm glad Hedwig came by when she did. I'm leaving for my grandparent's house tomorrow and they aren't used to owl post.   
I'll be leaving for Ron's soon, and I should be there by the time you get there. Ron says that you're coming whether the Dursleys like it or not. Have you seen the booklist for this year? What does the Defense Against the Dark Arts books remind you of? I wonder if it has anything to do with what I think it does…oh well.  
I'm sorry I have to make this so short. I have to get everything packed for my grandparent's house. Hope you like you're present!  
  
Love-  
-Hermione  
  
  
What had Hermione meant 'What does the Defense Against the Dark Arts book remind you of?'? He just frowned and shook his head, shrugging it off. Harry turned his attention to the package on his lap and examined it. In sighed, it looked a lot like a book. "Probably full of a bunch difficult spells that I'll never been able to do." Harry thought with a frown. He opened it and felt a smile come across his face. It was a book, but not a spell book. It was a book on Quidditch moves and tactics used by famous seekers. He smiled as he watched two seekers dive down the cover and disappear at the bottom. He put the book down with Hermione's letter and picked up a another letter, this one had sloppy handwriting that could belong to none other than the Hogwarts gamekeeper Hagrid.   
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday!   
I think you'll find this useful for next year.  
You'll see why when you get here.   
Hope the Muggles are treating you right.  
All the best,   
Hagrid  
  
  
Harry turned his attention to the package that had come with Hagrid's letter. He suddenly remembered what had happened when Hagrid had sent him a birthday present two years ago. He got a biting book. He gulped and opened it very slowly and was relived to see there was no sign of anything that would bite. Instead there was a tin of homemade fudge and thick, black gloves made what looked like Blast-Ended Skerwt hide. Harry frowned and prayed that they weren't attempting another chance at raising Blast-Ended Skerwts. But all the same, he thought to himself, it's the thought that counts. He turned to the last of the letters and noted that this one was from Hogwarts. He opened the letter and read it.   
  
  
Dear Mr. Potter,  
  
Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three quarters, at eleven o'clock.   
A list of books for next year is enclosed. Hope to see you next year.  
Yours sincerely,  
  
Professor M. McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress  
  
  
Harry pulled out the list of books and began reading it.  
  
Fifth year students will require:  
  
The Standard Book of Spells Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk  
Basic Guide to Transfiguration Level 5 by Cassandra Webel  
1001 Potions for All Occasions Class 5 by Demitree Lifeltone  
Dark Creatures and Dark Curses by Celeste Hartington   
  
  
After going over the book list he stopped on the book for the Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it didn't remind him of anything, except to wonder who their new teacher would be and to pray that it wasn't Snape. Every year they had gotten a new teacher for that class, no one seemed to be able to hold that job down. Harry picked up all of his things and placed the letters and presents on the table beside his bed, and got up and pet Hedwig as she gave him an affectionate nip on his hand and he grabbed pig and put him in the cage so he could get a drink. Harry then wondered over to the window sighed.   
  
It was a nice cool night. Harry looked back at his clock and smiled lightly. He had been 15 for an hour now. He turned his attention back to endless skies, and just as he looked out the window, something caught his eye. It was a figure standing across the street looking up at his window…looking right at him. Harry focused on the figure, but it was to far away to make out anything…he squinted and blinked to clear his eyes to get a better look. But after he blinked, the figure was gone. There was nothing, or no one standing on the street below him. An odd feeling pricked the back of his neck. Maybe he had just been seeing things.   
  
Harry shook his head and tried to shake off the odd feeling that had settled in his stomach, but it persisted. Maybe he was just tired, he was just sleepy, that's all. With this in his mind, he closed the window, casting one more look down across the street and then walked back over to his bed, turned off his lamp, and lay down, taking off his glasses and rolling over on his stomach. He closed his eyes and was determined to get to sleep, but it didn't come to him until the sun began to rise.   
  
  
~End Chapter 2  
  
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Author's Note: This one came quick, partly cause I already had this one ready. The next chapt. Might take a few days, maybe less considering that this one only took a few hours. Anyways, r/r, and let me now what you think!   



	3. Back to the Burrow

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Chapter 3 : Back to the Burrow

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It was only a few hours later when Harry woke up to the sound of his enormous cousin, Dudley. Though, Harry thought, enormous was an understatement for what Dudley was. Harry got up, rubbed his eyes and looked at his clock. It was nine o'clock. He sighed and stretched and got up, walked over to his wardrobe and got dressed in a sweeter and jeans that were about twenty-four sizes to big. He had to roll up the sleeves ten times to be able to use his hands, and the sleeves still fell over his hands. Harry sighed and walked out of his room, closing the door behind him, and walking down the stairs. 

When Harry walked into the kitchen, his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and rather large cousin Dudley, were all sitting at a table, watching a T.V. and eating breakfast. It was then that Harry remembered the bag of jokes sitting on the table beside his bed. He made a mental note to try them out, and there was no way Dudley would turn them down. He was still on his diet after all. Even though he had been on it for a year, he didn't seem to be getting any smaller. Maybe, Harry thought, he was sneaking junk food at night. That had to have been the reason, considering that Dudley seemed to have gained another four chins over the school year. 

Harry sat down at the table and helped himself to some….'_Great, egg-whites again…'_ Harry thought with a grimace. Well, at least he still had all those sweets under the loose floorboard in his room. With the prospect of real food when he got upstairs, he took his severing (which seemed to be the smallest of the lot) and began eating it, debating with himself about asking Uncle Vernon to go to the Weasley's so early in the morning. 

It took a totally of maybe thirty seconds to decide he was going to ask. So, Harry quickly finished off his food before turning to Uncle Vernon. " I got a letter from my friend from school." He said very casually. 

The effects of this simple statement were almost too much NOT to laugh at. Uncle Vernon's face went white briefly, and then to bright red that made him look like a very ugly, rotten tomato; Aunt Petunia dropped the fork she had been holding and looked at Harry as if he just announced the end of the world, and Dudley clasped his hands over his mouth. He had apparently not forgotten about the Ton-Tongue Toffee Fred had given him last year. Harry did his best to not laugh at the site. 

" Writing to them are you?" Uncle Vernon said, his face turning now to a deep purple. 

" Yeah. My friend Ron, you met him, his brothers, and dad last year, wants me to come and stay the rest of the summer with him." At this Uncle Vernon's face (if it was even humanly possible) turned even darker. Harry could see that Uncle Vernon was thinking hard about this. If he allowed it, they could rid of him a full four weeks earlier. But, that would mean he had done something that would make Harry happy. Which was not something he was not keen on doing. The thought of seeing the Weasley's didn't seem to bode over well with him neither. Seeing this Harry decided it was time to make sure he got what he wanted.

" If you don't want me to, I'll just go and write to Ron and tell him that I can't stay with him." He said, in very calm voice. " Though, Sirius was hoping to see me before I went back to school; you know, my godfather." That was it. He had done it. Harry tried not to laugh at the look of horror that had crossed the Dursley's faces. He was thoroughly enjoying the effect that Sirius had on all of them. After a long moment, Uncle Vernon finally spoke up.

" Alright…you can go to your ruddy friends house…and…and tell your godfather…that you can go too…" He said in a forced calm voice, although Harry could see the panic in his eyes. 

" Alright then." Harry got up and walked out of the kitchen, letting out a loud whoop as he took the stairs three at a time. He walked in his room, picked up a piece of parchment and a quill and scrawled a quick note on it telling Ron that he could come and sent it off with Pig. Then he wrote another to Sirius telling him he'd be at Ron's by Saturday for the rest of the summer vacation and sent it off with Hedwig, who wasn't to thrilled be going, and only agreed after he said he would just wait for Pig to come back and use him instead. He sent her off and sat down pried the loose floorboard up and ate some of sweets before settling down and reading some of the book Hermione had gotten him. 

The week had gone by quite fast, Harry said to himself as he packed up his things in his trunk. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. He would have already had everything packed, but he had gotten caught up in trying to figure out which one of Fred and George's jokes he was going to pull over on Dudley. It was a hard choice, really. They all sounded very entertaining. Harry decided to stick with the Frog Fudge, seeing as he already knew what Ton-Tongue Toffees, and Canary Creams did, and the sound of 'Booger Bars' made Harry wonder if you'd turn into a giant booger if you ate them. He set aside some Frog Fudge, and a Chocolate Frog (seeing as they both looked alike) and put the rest of the jokes in his trunk. He gathered all of his books and homework he had been working on, and dumped them in his trunk. 

After gathering the rest of his things and putting them away, he picked up Hedwig's cage (it was still empty) and put it on his trunk, grabbed the chocolate frog and frog fudge, and went down stairs. Ron had sent him a letter and told him that they would be traveling by Floo Powder again. So Harry made sure that the fireplace had been open as not to repeat another incident like last year. It was ten till five when Harry walked into the living room, Frog Fudge and Chocolate Frog in hand. He looked at all the Dursley's and laughed to himself. Uncle Vernon was pulling out pieces of his mustache while pretending to read the paper, Aunt Petunia was straightening the pillows and cushions on the armchairs,and looking toward thekitchen all the while. Dudley was standing by the doorway, apparently ready to dash out at the sign of the Weasley's arrival. 

Unable to stand the paranoid atmosphere of the living room, he moved to the kitchen and sat down at the table. It was exactly five o'clock when a thud from the fireplace announced the arrival of Mr. Weasley. Harry jumped and looked over at the now soot covered Mr. Weasley and smiled widely as Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley came to the doorway. 

" Hello Mr. Weasley." Harry said as Mr. Weasley brushed himself off. 

" Hello Harry! How are you?" He asked, brushing himself off as another thud came from the fireplace, and Ron walked out from behind his dad. 

" Hello Harry!" Ron said brightly, smiling from ear to ear. 

" Ready to go Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked, spotting the Dursley's in the doorway. He didn't look to keen on repeating last year's incident. 

" Yeah, my trunk's upstairs. Ron can you help me get it?" Ron nodded and walked upstairs with Harry to his room. When they walked in, Ron looked at Harry, smiling still. 

" Have you tried out any of the jokes yet?" He asked with a laugh. Harry shook his head. 

" Not yet, I'm gonna give him a Frog Fudge, see." Harry said, holding out the joke in one hand, and the Chocolate Frog in the other, laughing loudly. 

" Oh, you're going to love that one!" Ron said as he grabbed one end of Harry's trunk, while Harry grabbed the other side. They carried it down stairs, Ron still laughing to himself, apparently dying to tell Harry what it did. The scene downstairs was quite amusing. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia where trying to shield Dudley from view of Mr. Weasley, who was looking around, itching to check out some of the things that sat around the room. When Ron and Harry came into the room, Mr. Weasley turned to them and smiled. 

" Right, time to go. _Incendio!_" He said, pointing his wand at the fireplace, which burst into merry flames that looked as if the been burning for hours. No one noticed that Harry had sat the Frog Fudge on the table while he ate the Chocolate Frog, making sure Dudley was the only one who had seen him. 

" Ok Ron, you and the trunk first." Mr. Weasley said. Ron and Harry carried the trunk over to the fire as Mr. Weasley took out a small pouch, opened it, and tossed some of it's contents in the fire. Ron stepped into the fire, which was now burning green, and waved at the Dursley's as Harry helped him turn the trunk on it's side. He had vanished after shouting "the Burrow!" Mr. Weasley turned to Harry.

" Ok Harry, your turn." Harry began to walk toward the fire but stopped half way there.

" Mr. Weasley, you go first, I forgot something." He said with a smile. Mr. Weasley turned to him, and after a look back at the Dursley's he nodded and stepped into the fire, disappearing like Ron after shouting "the Burrow!" Harry walked out of the room and up the stairs, pretending to get something and returning in only a few seconds time. He walked to the fire, seeing out of the corner of his eye, Dudley unwrapping the Frog Fudge. He smiled and stepped into the fire and looked back at the Dursley's as Dudley crammed the Frog Fudge down his throat. 

" Well, 'bye then!" He said with a cheery wave. At that very moment, Dudley let out a large burp that made Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia look back. Harry had to fight the urge not to laugh. Dudley was now burping up frogs in big bunches. Aunt Petunia rushed to Dudley as Uncle Vernon turned to Harry, his face a deep, ugly purple. 

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO DUDLEY?!" He roared as Harry smiled brightly and waved. With that, he cried "the Burrow!" and the last thing he heard was Uncle Vernon yelling at him, and the last thing he saw was Dudley on his hands and knees, a large pile of frogs in front of him, and large bunch pouring out of his mouth. 

~End Chapter 3 


	4. Odd Occurrences

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Chapter 4: Odd Occurrences

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Harry tucked his elbows in and closed his eyes. The wind was ruffling his hair and stinging his face. Luckily, Harry opened his eyes just in time to catch himself before he fell face first into the Weasley's fireplace. 

" Well?" Ron said as he held out his hand, smiling brightly

" That was great! You guys are geniuses!" Harry said with a laugh as he looked at Fred and George, who were laughing loudly with Bill, Charlie, and Ginny; Hermione didn't look amused.

" Oh honestly! You guys can't give anyone a break can you?" She asked in her bossy, airy tone. Everyone just laughed a response. She sighed and smiled. Even though Hermione hated to admit it, she too, found it funny. 

" How do you guys come up with these ideas?" Harry asked as he sat down in a chair at the kitchen table with Ron.

" Well, we got the idea for the Frog Fudge from that time when Ron cursed himself to burp up slugs." Fred said with a bright smile. Ron's ears went red, thinking about the time he tried to curse Malfoy but cursed himself instead. 

" Yeah, the only bad thing is, it wears off after about an hour or so." George said in a very matter of fact kind of tone. Fred nodded. 

" What's going on in here?" Came Mrs. Weasley's voice from the doorway. " Oh hello Harry dear. Now what are you laughing about?" She asked again, looking at the twins suspiciously. They smiled brightly. 

" We didn't do anything Mum. Honestly, you call yourself our mother when you walk around prosecuting us constantly!" George said with a bright smile as everyone laughed. Even Mrs. Weasley found this funny. She smiled at the twins and turned to Harry. 

" Well, it is good to see you Harry dear." She said with a warm sort of smile. Harry smiled back.

" It's good to be here." Mrs. Wealsey smiled and nodded. 

" Well, dinner will be ready in an hour." Mrs. Wealsey said as she started to pull pots and pans out of the cabinets. Ron cleared his throat and gave Harry and Hermione both meaningful looks. Getting the message, they all three retreated to Ron's room on the up-most floor, under the attic, and the ghoul. When the got into the room, Ron closed the door quickly, tryin to drown out Percy's yelling at them for 'disturbing his work'. Ron looked at Harry and then Hermione.

" So Harry, has anything…weird happened?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head.

" No, nothing." He said. " Really!" He added quickly, spotting the mistrusting looks on their faces.

" Have you heard from Sirius?" 

" Yeah, I heard from Sirius twice. Once two weeks after I got back from Hogwarts, and on my birthday. He says he's ok, and is at Professor Lupin's house." Harry said. " And that reminds me, Hermione, in your letter, you asked what the Defense Against the Dark Arts book reminded me of. What did you mean?"

Hermione frowned at this. " If you can't figure it out, then I guess you'll just have to wait. Honestly, it's not that hard." She said. " Besides, I don't think we're suppose to know." She said very matter of factly with a thoughtful look.  Both Ron and Harry exchanged quizzical looks, but they knew that Hermione wouldn't tell once she had made her mind not to. 

" Boys! Would you help set the table?" Mrs. Wealsey's voice called from the kitchen. When they all walked into the kitchen, Mrs. Wealsey was loading Bill up with plates and cups to take outside to the large table that Charlie was setting. All the while she was complaining lovingly about a new necklace that Bill was wearing. 

" Oh honestly Bill, dear, this is getting a bit silly. First your hair, then that silly earring, and now that necklace. Really dear, do the goblins at the bank mind at all?" She was asking him. Bill sighed as she added three more cups to his load. 

" No Mum, they don't say a thing. Like I said before, they don't give a damn about how I dress. As long as I do my job they don't say a thing Mum." He said calmly. Mrs. Weasley gave her son a skeptical look before sighing and spotting Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

" Silverware please, you three." She said pointing her wand at a drawer that opened, spitting out knifes, forks, and spoons. The three of them picked up the silverware and went outside with Bill. 

" Hello Harry. How are you?" Bill asked, leaning against the back door to hold it open for them. 

" I'm ok. Thanks." Harry said as he walked passed Bill who nodded. 

" No problem." He said as they headed to the table where Charlie was. Charlie was guiding the chairs to their spots with his wand when they walked out. He looked at them and smiled. 

" Hello all." He said with a smile, pointing his wand at the dishes that were weighing Bill down. The plates, bowls and cups all shot into the air and down into their right places. Spotting Bill's face, Charlie laughed.

" Mum nagging about your necklace now too?" He asked with a grin. Bill just nodded. Charlie laughed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat the silverware on the table as Charlie pointed his wand at them. All the silverware went to where it belonged. 

It was no sooner then ten minutes before everyone was seated at the table and helping themselves to Mrs. Wealsey's cooking. There was chicken, and turkey, rolls, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, and few other things. Harry was happy to be eating real food. It was quite good, really, he thought to himself. All down the table there were different conversations going on. It was quite funny to listen to. After dinner they had dessert, which was every flavor of ice cream that you could imagine, even some that Harry's four, years in the wizarding world hadn't introduced him to. Fred and George even put some of their motor oil flavored joke ice cream out that Percy had the misfortune of tasting. He was stuck in the bathroom for an hour, though Harry had to give them credit. Sorry though he felt for Percy, it was quite funny. By the time they were done eating, the sun had gone down and everyone was very tired and very full of good food. Harry wasn't exactly sure how he had made it up to Ron's room. He didn't remember changing, laying down or falling asleep neither.

It was hard to believe that the month was almost gone. A full three weeks had come and gone without Harry being none the wiser. Maybe it was because he was having such a good time, that always makes the time pass quicker. At any rate, he could hardly believe that he would be at Hogwarts in a few days time, much less that he would be in Diagon Alley picking up his school things for the new year in an hour. Harry sat up and looked around Ron's room then to the twin lumps that were Fred and George. The twins had been pushed into Ron's room because Bill and Charlie had taken their room, like the last time they had visited. Yawning, Harry stood up and stretched as Mrs. Weasley knocked softly on the door and then walked in. 

" Good Morning Harry." She whispered, shaking the twins lightly. " Up you get you two." She said before moving on to Ron who was sitting up in his bed. " Get dressed and come down for breakfast. We will be leaving in a bit." Mrs. Weasley said before walking out of the room. A long yawn came from either Fred or George, Harry couldn't tell which. Ron stood up, yawned, and then began looking around for his socks that he had carelessly thrown aside last night. It took a while for all four of them to get up and dressed. When they finally had, they all headed down stairs and to the kitchen.

Hermione and Ginny were both up and eating when Harry, Ron, Fred, and George walked in. Mrs. Weasley was by the stove, cooking no doubt. 

" Good morning M-m-mum." Fred said failing to stop his yawn as they all sat around the table.

 " Why'd we have to get up so early, we're just going to Diagon Alley." George complained as Mrs. Weasley flipped five sausages on his plate, and moving on to serve Ron. 

" We have a lot to do today. Your father needs to take care of something, I need to do some shopping, Bill needs to check with the bank, and Charlie has to pick up something from the animal shop for a dragon his friend is watching for him. Not to mention, we have to get all of your school things." Mrs. Weasley said as she put some eggs on Harry's plate. 

After everyone had eaten, which had only taken a few minutes, they were all crowded in the kitchen. Mr. Weasley picked up a small flowerpot and walked over to the fireplace and tossed a bit in. Mr. Weasley had gone first, then Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Harry, and lastly Mrs. Weasley. In a matter of minuets, they where all in Diagon Alley. Harry was beating the soot off of his clothes while he walked down the street toward the bank with all the Weasleys, and Hermione. Floo Powder was by far the worst way to travel, Harry thought, sure it was fast, but it was painful if you didn't catch yourself in time, and getting soot up his nose he could have done without. When they all reached the bank, Harry had successfully brushed off all the soot from his clothes and had gotten his glasses cleaned. 

As they walked in, Bill walked ahead to the counter and started talking to a free goblin. " I'm Bill Weasley from Egypt, I was told to talk to the head of the bank." He said, taking a card out of his pocket and handing it to the goblin. The goblin nodded. 

" Yes, we've been expecting you. The manager is through that door, and down the hallway. It's the last door on your right." The goblin said as he handed the card back to Bill, who nodded. 

" I'll meet you guys in Flourish and Blotts in an hour or so." He said before walking off. The goblin turned to Mrs. Weasley. She walked up to the counter.

" We need to get money out of the Weasley's and Harry Potter's vaults." She said and took out a key and handed it to the goblin. Harry took out his vault key and handed it to the goblin. The goblin looked at the keys. 

" Alright, all things seem to be in order." He said as he waved a goblin over to take them to their vaults. The ride down to the vaults was quite crowed and uncomfortable. Harry had gotten elbowed in the ribs twice by Fred, and stepped on by Hermione when they where clambering out of the cart. Mrs. Weasley walked up to the vault that was theirs and swept some of the little money that was in vault. When it came time for Harry to get money out of his vault, he wished that everyone would just look away. He felt bad having all that money to himself, and Harry would have gladly shared all of his money, but he knew that the Weasleys would never accept. Harry stuffed some money quickly in his moneybag and walked out, all the while trying to block the others view. He was relived when his vault was shut again. When they got back up to the counter, Hermione exchanged Muggle money for wizarding money before they left the bank. 

" Alright, everyone should go take care of what they need to, we'll all meet in Flourish and Blotts in an hour and a half." Mr. Weasley said before they all parted ways. 

" Where should we go first?" Ron asked as he, Harry, and Hermione all walked down the street, looking at the shops as they past. 

" How about we go get some ice cream?" Hermione suggested, spotting the ice cream shop just up the road. Ron and Harry nodded in agreement. As they walked down the road Harry came to a quick stop, feeling eyes on him. Looking behind him, he saw a cloaked figure standing in the doorway of a potions shop. A sudden, weak feeling, like the one he had felt on his birthday suddenly pricked his heart. He couldn't see the figure's face, but he was sure it was looking right at him… through him.

" Harry! Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione shout to him, running back with Ron. Harry turned his eyes to his friends and then back to the potions shop. The cloaked person was gone. His stomach gave an awful lurch and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He felt a hand on his shoulder. 

" Are you ok?" Ron asked. Harry gave a glance back at the potions shop, and then back at his friends. He nodded. 

" Yeah, I'm fine. I just thought I saw something. It's not important, come on, let's go get some ice cream." He said, trying to sound ok. Hermione and Ron exchanged nervous glances. " Really, I'm fine. We'd better hurry before they run out of waffle cones like last time." Harry said with a smile, driving the thoughts of the cloaked person out of his mind. Why should he be worried? Hermione and Ron both smiled.

"  Yeah, c'mon." Ron said, turning on heel and resuming his walk to the ice cream shop. While he was walking away, Harry couldn't help but steal one last glance at the potions shop, but there wasn't a cloaked person anywhere in site. Getting a large hot fudge sundae, complete with waffle cone, cherries, nuts, and three types of ice cream brought his spirits up immensely. After finishing their ice cream, they bought a second round and left the shop, talking about where to go next. 

" How about the Quidditch shop?" Ron said as he pointed out a shop on their left. Hermione shook her head. 

" How about we got get our school stuff first. We need to get our school shopping done first, then we can play around." She said in her very matter of fact kind of tone. Ron rolled his eyes and sighed. 

" Honestly, can't we have any fun with you around?" he complained as they walked into a shop on their right. Hermione scowled. 

" I don't know what you're complaining about, it won't take ten minutes." She snapped, picking up a quill and about twenty rolls of parchment. 

Hermione proved to be right, the shopping only took ten minutes at the most. As agreed, they stopped by Quality Quidditch Supplies and looked around. Harry bought some more polish for his broom service kit. He had run out a few months ago, and couldn't wait to get back and polish his prized Firebolt. After they spent around twenty minutes looking around the Quidditch shop, they went and picked up some new robes, and then headed to the pet shop to get some treats for Crookshanks, Pig, and Hedwig. After that, they all headed to the joke shop, where they found Fred and George talking to a man behind the counter. 

" Hallo!" Fred and George echoed together when they saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione. 

" Hi. What are you doing?" Hermione asked the twins. They grinned. 

" We're talking to this bloke. He says he can help up start Weasley Wizard Wheezes." George said, both of their grins went wider. Harry and Ron smiled while Hermione sighed. Fred and George went back to talking to the man behind the counter while Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around the shop. After a while, they theft with their money pouches a lot lighter. 

" We should go fill up our potion ingredients." Hermione suggested with a thoughtful look. Ron looked repulsed by the idea, but nodded in agreement. 

" Yeah, I would hate to see what Snape would do if we should show up to his class on our first day back and didn't have all of our ingredients." Harry said. Ron nodded and scowled angrily at Harry. 

" Potter!" He barked in a voice much like Snape's. " Thought you'd show up unprepared, did you? Fifty points from Gyffindor and a weeks detention!" He snapped and turned to Hermione. " Granger! What's your excuse? Apparently you're not as smart as you thought you were! Fifty points from Gyffindor and an 'F' on all your homework!" Ron snapped, trying hard to keep his 'Snape face'. Harry imitated Ron's look. 

" Weasley! I suppose you couldn't afford new ingredients, is that it? Fifty points from Gyffindor and a ten gallon fee!" Harry said in a Snape voice, trying not to laugh. It was a losing battle, all three of them found themselves laughing at the joke. When they got to the potions shop, Harry couldn't help but remember the cloaked person. He looked around nervously, but there was no one in cloaks anywhere. But, Harry just couldn't get rid of the horrible pain that settled in his stomach. The whole time they where in the potions shop he kept looking around nervously, hoping that no one in a cloak would walk through the door, or walk out of a dark corner. They left, to Harry's great relief, ten minutes later. 

" We should go to Flourish and Blotts, it's been an hour and twenty minutes." Harry said, checking his new watch that Sirius had gotten him as an 'early birthday present' a week after he went back with the Dursleys. Ron looked at Harry's watch and nodded. 

" Yeah, maybe we should. We still have to get our books and stuff." Ron said as they turned a corner and walked into the bookstore. Inside they spotted Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, the twins, Percy, Bill, Charlie, and Ginny. 

" Here are your booklists, dears." Mrs. Weasley said when she had seen them, and pulled out three pieces of crumpled up parchment. " Off you go, get you books." She said in a motherly tone. Harry, Ron, and Hermione split up and went different ways. Harry got his transfiguration book first, groaning at the size of it. It was even big by Hermione's standards, and that was saying something. Next he got his spell book, which, to his relief, was the same size as last years. The potions book was next, and Harry knew before he had seen it, that it would be as large as the transfiguration book, or bigger. It was just like Snape to make everything hard and miserable. And when Harry saw the book, he got the ominous feeling that Snape had picked that book out with him in mind. 

" Got to be at least ten thousand pages…" Harry grumbled, turning the corner to were the Defense Against the Dark Arts books where. He looked at the shelf where they sat; not one was on the shelf, the last one was being read by some one that was leaning against the bookshelf. Harry's heart stopped when he looked at the person. It was the cloaked figure he had seen outside the potions shop. He was sure of it. The figure was looking down at the book reading and Harry wondered if they even knew he was standing there. His stomach gave an awful lurch when the person looked up at him. Harry looked back, but he couldn't see a face. The only part of the face he could see was from the lips, that were set into a stern line, and down to the person's chin. The cloak hid any signs of gender, and by the height he couldn't tell a thing. 

"  Could I…er…" Harry started to ask for the book, but the words died in his throat. In one swift motion, the person had stood up, closed the book, and held it out to him. He reached for the book but hesitated. He looked at the black-gloved hand that was holding it out to him, and then back to the person's hidden face. The person stood still as a statue, holding the book out to him, and Harry was sure that the figure wasn't even breathing. He looked back to the book and took it slowly from the figure. 

" Harry! Are you ready dear?" Mrs. Weasley called from the front of the store. 

" Yeah, I'm coming." Harry called back, turning to the front of the store and looking back at the book. He stopped when he saw the tip of a piece of paper sticking out from under the cover. " Is this---" Harry began, looking back to where the cloaked person was. They where gone. Harry's heart stopped as he looked at where the strange person had been standing not even a few seconds before. He looked at the corner for a moment more before looking back at the book. Despite the anxiety that was gnawing at him, Harry couldn't help but wonder. He opened the book with shaking hands and picked up a napkin that was sitting inside. He turned it over and gasped. On the other side of ice cream shop napkin was a picture drawn in silver ink of himself, Ron, and Hermione all sitting at the ice cream shop, eating their hot fudge sundaes. Drawn in the corner in a close up, was himself, laughing brightly. There was no signature, but instead a pair of wings drawn in the bottom corner under Ron's chair. As Harry stared at the picture, the same feeling came over him as when the cloaked person had looked at him just a few moments ago, but, as Harry noticed, it wasn't fear. In fact, he didn't know what it was. He jumped when he heard some one call his name. 

" Harry! What are you doing?" Hermione asked. Harry turned around and looked at Hermione and Ron, who both looked worried and nervous. 

" Huh? What's that?" Ron asked, noticing the napkin. Harry shook his head. 

" I'll explain when we get back to the Burrow." He said, jerking his head in the direction of Mrs. Weasley. Ron and Hermione nodded. 

" Come along you three! We're about ready to leave!"  Bill piped up, waving them over from behind Mrs. Weasley. The three of them walked to the front with Hermione and Ron giving Harry uncomfortable glances. When the three of them got to the front, Mr. Weasley was paying for Ron, Ginny, and the twins' books. Harry glanced back at Hermione; she had already bought her books. " That's just like her." Harry thought to himself. When Mr. Weasley finished paying for the books, Harry stepped up to the counter. The man smiled at him. 

" Good afternoon, that will be…fifty gallons, ten sickles, and nine knuts." He said. Harry took out the money and paid the man. As he picked up the bag of books, the man spoke again when the Weasleys where out of earshot. " You'll be Harry Potter, am I right?" Harry nodded. The man smiled. " Nice to finally put a face to the name. Have a good day Mr. Potter." He said with a merry wave as Harry picked up his books. 

" Alright, has everyone done everything they need to?" Mr. Weasley asked when Harry walked out of Flourish and Blotts. Everyone nodded. " Great! Now back to the Burrow." He said as they began walking off. When they finally got back to the Burrow, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all retreated upstairs to Ron's room. Ron shut the door quickly and both he and Hermione gave Harry stern looks. 

" Ok, now what's going on?" Ron asked.

" What where you looking at?"

" What did you see at the potions shop?"

" Why where you so jumpy in the potions shop?"

" One question at a time!" Harry bellowed, his mind spinning in confusion. Ron and Hermione both got quiet. 

" This is what I was looking at." He said, pulling out the napkin. Ron and Hermione looked at it wide-eyed. Before either could ask any questions, Harry explained about the cloak person, and how many times he had seen the person. He told them about his birthday, and the weird feeling he got when he looked at the picture on the napkin. Both of them sat quiet for a minute. 

" Have you told Sirius?" Hermione asked after a moment of silence. Harry shook his head. 

" No, I didn't want him to worry. He might have done something stupid and ended back in Azkaban." He said. Hermione frowned. 

" Sirius isn't stupid! Besides, you should tell him! Write to him right now and tell him! Dumbledore too! They both need to know!" She shrieked. Ron nodded. 

" I hate to agree with her, but she is right. It might be better to let some one else know, so they can be on the look out too." He said. Harry sighed as Hermione pulled out a quill, parchment, and a bottle of ink and shoved it into Harry's arms. 

" I was going to anyways, you know." He grumbled as he began to write. Hermione snorted but Harry just ignored her. He wrote for about five minutes in silence until he pulled his back and read what he had wrote:

    _Dear Sirius, _

_           You asked me too tell you about anything weird, so here it goes. On my birthday, I was looking outside my window and I saw some one standing across the street looking up at me. When I blinked to get a better look, they were gone. I pushed it out of my mind, but today when I was in Diagon Alley, I think I saw the person again. I don't know because I never did get a look at their face. The first time was when I was walking to the ice cream shop, I got a weird feeling and looked back, and there was someone standing in the doorway of the potions shop looking at me. I turned my eyes for a second, and they were gone. The second time was when I was getting my school books. The same cloaked person was standing there, holding the last book. They gave me the book and I looked away, and when I looked back, they were gone. There was no other way of the corner unless they had walked past me. But the weirdest thing was that inside the book they gave me, was a napkin with a picture of me, Ron, and Hermione at the ice cream shop drawn on it in silver ink._

_       It might just be a weird coincidence, but Hermione and Ron thought it best I told you. Hope you, Professor Lupin, and Buckbeak are well. _

_                                               --_**_Harry_**

Harry walked over to Hedwig's cage and opened it up. " Hey Hedwig. I need you to take this to Sirius for me ok?" He said to the sleepy snowy owl. " I could always use Pig, couldn't I Ron?" He said, turning to look at Ron. He nodded. 

" Yeah, I don't mind if you use Pig." Hedwig looked at Ron and then to Harry and stuck her leg out for him. Harry tied the letter to the owl's leg and carried her to the window. 

" I'll be at Hogwarts in two days, so just go there alright?" He asked, petting Hedwig. She hooted and nipped his ear softly and soared out the window, disappearing into the sunset. 

" Well, that's done. How about we get packed and then go and play some Quidditch?" Ron suggested. Harry nodded. Harry picked up his bags and walked over to his trunk and popped it open. 

" Well, I'll go put my stuff up and-" Hermione began, only to get cut off. 

" Guys…look at this…." Harry said, holding up a small piece of parchment with the same silver ink as the napkin. Ron and Hermione walked up to him and looked at it. The note said:

_                    Harry Potter,_

_                             Things aren't always what they appear to be, or seem to be, when you first see them. _

_                     Things aren't always what they appear to be, there might be something hiding. Do well                         _

_                     to remember this little bit of advice that I give you. Don't trust half of what you see, or all        _

_                   of what  you will hear. The war is coming, don't let us down. You can't afford to make a _

                   _mistake._

~End chapter 4


	5. Hogwarts and Letters

Disclaimer : I seem to keep forgetting this part. Everything related to Harry Potter all belong to J.K. Rowling, and I am in no why, profiting from this sucky story. I doubt I could anyways ^_^;;

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Chapter 5: Hogwarts and Letters 

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 Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at the piece of parchment that now lay on Ron's bed. All three of them stood speechless for a few moments, until Hermione spoke up. 

" H-Harry? You don't…know who wrote this do you…?" Harry shook his head and picked the note back up.

" 'The war is coming, don't let us down. You can't afford to make a mistake.' It sounds like a threat to me." Ron said as he read it over Harry's shoulder. " Maybe you should send it to Si—" 

" No! If I tell Sirius, he'll just worry! It's probably just some one's idea of a joke…" Harry said, though he didn't sound to confident that it was a joke. 

" Harry!" Hermione shrieked. " You HAVE to tell some one! What if you're being watched? What if it's You-Know-Who?" She asked in a panicked tone. Harry shook his head. 

" I doubt Voldemort would give me a warning if he was watching me." He said, not noticing Ron wince at the name of the Dark Lord. 

" What if it was him at the potions shop? Or Flourish and Blotts?!" Hermione argued. 

" No, it wasn't. My scar would have hurt if it was. Besides, even if it was, why didn't he just kill me on site? There where plenty of people there." Harry said, looking at the note. " He could have gotten away with it." No one said anything. The truth was, none of them knew what to say. 

" Let's just…forget about this. It's probably nothing." Harry said, looking at the note in sick worry. " If it happens again, I'll tell Sirius and Dumbledore." He added quickly after spotting the looks on Ron and Hermione's faces. They both nodded reluctantly. Harry sighed and folded the letter up and put it in one of the top most drawers in his trunk. Everyone stood still for a few minutes until Harry picked up his bags. 

" Let's get unpacking so we can play some Quidditch." He said, dumping his bags out on the camp bed where he slept. Ron followed in Harry's example, and after a minute, Hermione left to unpack all of her things. The both of them packed in silence, neither not really knowing what to say. Ron's snort of disgust was what broke the silence.

" I should just throw these away." He said, holding up his dress robes from last year. " I hate maroon anyway." Harry looked at the supply list and shook his head. 

" I'm afraid you'll just have to keep them. It says that we need dress robes again this year." Harry said, ignoring the sound of disapproval that Ron made. 

" I'm not wearing this thing again this year. I'll just go starkers." Ron said, throwing the robes back in his trunk. Harry couldn't help but smile. 

" Well, at least their not bright pink." Harry said with a grin. 

" Maroon's not far off." Ron replied. " Why couldn't she have gotten me blue ones, like Fred and George?" He asked. Harry shrugged. As if right on cue, Fred and George walked into Ron's room, both with huge grins plastered to their faces. Before Harry or Ron could ask what they were so happy about, they both began talking. 

" We're getting Weasleys Wizard Wheezes." They both echoed, their grins growing wider. 

" What? How do you know?" Ron and Harry asked together. 

" The man at the joke shop said he would help us. He says he has a friend who is going out of business, and that would give his store to us." Fred said. 

" We plan on turning that into Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. It's right in Hogsmeade, so we'll be close to Hogwarts." George said. " It'll be great! You guys get discounts too!" He added with a grin.

" And free samples of the new stuff we come out with!" Fred added, smiling from ear to ear. 

" That's great!" Harry said with a grin. 

" But does Mum know?" Ron asked, putting the books he was holding in his trunk. The twins nodded. 

" Yeah, we talked to her. She says that as long as we keep our grades up, and concentrate on our schoolwork, that her and Dad'll help us as much as they can to get it started." George said. Ron gaped. 

" I can't believe Mum agreed!" He said loudly and wide-eyed at the twins. 

" We were surprised too." The twins said together. " Anyways, we wanted to know if you guys wanted to play some Quidditch before dinner." 

" Sure, we were planning to after we got done with packing." Harry said with a nod. 

" We'll help!" George said, picking up one of Ron's bags and dumping it out on the bed. With the twins' help, it didn't take very long to get the rest of the school things packed away. After that, as said, the twins, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Bill, and Charlie all played some Quiddtch. Each one taking turns on Harry's beloved Firebolt. When the sun started to set, they all headed back to the Burrow, tired, dirty, and rather hungry. As they walked in the back door, they heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking in rather urgent voices. 

" Author…are you sure? Can't it just be a mistake?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her voice shaking lightly. Mr. Weasley sighed. 

" No Molly, their sure. There's no way it could be a mistake. I mean, how many of them do you see walking around?" He asked. A creak told them that Mr. Weasley had sat down at the table. 

" It…it could still be a mistake," Mrs. Weasley said hopefully. " Maybe…maybe there are more, maybe they just hid." Mr. Weasley sighed. 

" No Molly, you know as well as I, that there is only one left. There wasn't a mistake. That's why we have to be on guard. With everything happening, it's only a matter of time…" He trailed. 

" What's going on?" Bill and Charlie asked together, walking into the kitchen with everyone else. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked up. Mrs. Weasley smiled and shook her head.

" Oh, it's nothing dears. Just Ministry business." She said. Everyone stood silent for a moment until a light beeping sound rang through the kitchen. " Oh for goodness sake! Dinner!" Mrs. Wesley said suddenly, rushing over to the stove quickly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all exchanged worried looks. But, they didn't have time to keep them for more than just a few seconds. Mrs. Weasley walked in, carrying a large turkey with a look of triumph. 

" Not a second to soon." She said, placing it on the table with loving care. " You lot better wash your hands before you even think about sitting down at the table." Mrs. Weasley said, pointing her wand at them. After washing their hands, and putting up the Firebolt, Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the others at the kitchen table. Everyone was talking about various things, which included Quidditch, work, jokes, and even, at one point, one hundred uses for dungbombs. Harry couldn't remember when he had had so much fun. The dinner had done what game of Quidditch couldn't. It had taken his mind off of the letter he had found in his trunk. 

When dinner was over, everyone settled in the living room and had some hot chocolate. Everyone headed to bed a few hours later. When Harry got back into Ron's room, his stomach turned to lead as he remembered the letter he had found. Ron didn't seem to remember, he was too full and to tired to notice anything. After changing, Harry, Ron, and the twins lay down. But sleep didn't find Harry that night. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his mind off the letter. Who was it from? What did they want? Where were they now? Was it the person in Flourish and Blotts? Or at the potions shop? What did they want with him? Where they with Voldemort? And the biggest question Harry had, where they watching him now? 

How long Harry lay there before sleep finally came, he didn't know, but it seemed like he only just closed his eyes when Mrs. Weasley came in Ron's room to get them up. 

" Harry, dear, time to get up." She said quietly, patting his shoulder. Harry yawned and looked at the fuzzy outline that was Mrs. Weasley and nodded. He sat up and put his glasses on while Ron complained about it being to early under a long yawn. 

" Fred, George, you too, come on." Mrs. Weasley said, patting both the twins on their shoulders. Fred yawned and put his head under the pillow while George stretched and rolled off his camp bed. " Come on, we'll be leaving for King's Cross Station in a while." She said, and with a final pat on Fred's shoulder, walked out. 

" It's to bloody early t-t-to get u-up." Ron said through a yawn. He got up and tossed Harry's socks at him while looking for his shoes. Harry looked at the sock in his hand for a minute with a blank expression. 

" I'm free! I'm free!" Harry said in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, dancing while he got up. Ron and the twins looked at him for a second before all laughing at his house-elf impersonation. The laugh seemed to wake the others and Harry up greatly. Before they knew it, they all were dressed and down stairs at the kitchen table. Hermione and Ginny walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. After about two servings of eggs and bacon, they were all being ushered out of the house and to the new car that Mr. Weasley had gotten from the Ministry. They loaded everything up into the trunk, and then piled in. Mrs. Weasley looked at everyone in the back seat and smiled. 

" They do put a lot of room in these things, don't they?" She said, looking at the twins, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Pig, and Crookshanks, who all fit in the back seat with some room left over. Mr. Weasley nodded, not wanting to tell Mrs. Weasley about the few 'adjustments' he had made on this one too. The ride was rather quiet, and seemed to only take a few minutes, but that might have had something to do with the fact that Harry had fallen asleep. 

Before long, everyone had their trunks on their trolleys and were making their way through King's Cross. When the reached the entrance to platform nine and three-quarters, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley broke them up into groups. The twins went first, then Hermione and Ginny, and Harry and Mr. Weasley, and finally Mrs. Weasley and Ron. Harry walked away from the entrance just as Ron and Mrs. Weasley walked through. Harry looked at the scarlet train that was Hogwarts Express and he couldn't help but feel happy, and somewhat sad too. He was happy that he would soon be at Hogwarts; it had always been like a home to him. It was more of home to him that Privet Drive had been. But he was sad too. He loved being at the

Burrow, and around the Weasleys. They where like a family to him. After Harry, Ron, and Hermione unloaded their trunks, they went back to the platform to say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. 

" Harry, could you come over here for minute?" Mr. Weasley asked as Harry got off the train. Mrs. Weasley looked at her husband while Harry walked over to him. " Just over here." He said as he pulled Harry behind a pillar. No sooner than they had gotten behind it, did Mr. Weasley turn to Harry. He looked as serious as the day he had told Harry about Sirius. 

" Harry, promise me that you will try and stay out of trouble this year, ok?" Harry nodded. 

" Of course Mr. Weasley." He said in a reassuring tone. Mr. Weasley gave him a stern look. 

" Harry, listen. I really mean it. You need to stay out of trouble this year. Don't leave Hogwarts grounds unless it's a Hogsmeade weekend, even then, I don't really want you leaving. But there will teachers and plenty of people. Don't go roaming around. Be weary of who you talk to." He said, looking at Harry sternly. 

" I won't, I promise." He said, but Mr. Weasley didn't look convinced. 

" There are things that we can't control. Things that don't follow our laws, and that fear nothing. Things that don't even fear Dumbledore, Harry." He said in a more urgent tone. 

" I understand Mr. Weasley. I'll be careful, I promise." Harry said sincerely. A whistle sounded that told Harry that the Hogwarts Express was about to leave. Mr. Weasley nodded and he and Harry walked back to the train. Before he got on, Mrs. Weasley threw her arms around Harry and kissed his cheek.

" You be careful now." Mrs. Weasley said. Harry nodded in a reassuring way before getting on the train. 

" Remember what I told you Harry!" Mr. Weasley shouted as Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaned out the windows and waved goodbye. 

" I will Mr. Weasley! Thanks for everything!" Harry shouted just before Mr. and Mrs. Weasley Disapperated. The three of them sat back down after closing the windows. 

" Wow, it's kind of hard to believe that holidays are already over." Hermione said while she gazed out the window. 

" Yeah, it went by pretty fast." Ron said while he pulled out his dress robes and tossed them over Pigwedigeon's cage. Pig just hooted happily, not seeming to cared about the dress robes that covered his cage. Ron sighed and shook his head. Harry was about to speak up, when a very familiar, drawling voice floated through the air. 

" Can you believe it? Father says that it was just a matter of time; he said that it would happen one day. And would you look, only a few days later it does. Can you imagine? I've heard that the last is very powerful. Maybe now we'll get to see it. I've heard that their kind was very powerful when it came to the Dark Arts…" Ron closed the compartment door. 

" I wonder what Malfoy was talking about…" He trailed with a thoughtful look. 

" It sounds an awful lot like what your parents were talking about last night." Hermione said. " I wonder what it is…do you think it has something to do with You-Know-Who?" 

" I don't know. Whatever it is, it's bugging your dad as much as Sirius did." Harry said, looking at Ron who just shrugged a response. Before Hermione could speak up, their compartment door swung open. 

" Hullo Neville." Harry said, looking at the round-faced forgetful boy that was Neville Longbottom. Neville looked at them, on the verge of tears. 

" Have any of you guys seen Trevor? He ran off, and Malfoy said that he'd curse him next time he saw him, and then throw him off the train!" Neville said as his voice broke. All three of them just shook their heads. 

" No, we haven't seen Trevor anywhere. But we'll look out for him, don't worry." Hermione said in a comforting tone while she patted his back. 

" Yeah, don't worry, if Malfoy even thinks about doing anything to Trevor, we'll fix him really good." Ron said, trying to be helpful. Neville smiled a little and sniffled. 

" Thanks guys, well, I'd better go find Trevor." He said in a slightly more cheerful tone. He walked out and closed the compartment door behind him. 

" One of these days Malfoy is going to bark up the wrong tree, and then he'll really get what's coming to him." Ron said with a wistful smile. " I can just see it now…maybe the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be like old Mad-Eye Moody…" 

" And maybe this time he'll leave Malfoy as a ferret." Harry added thoughtfully. 

" That reminds me! I was going to show you guys, but I forgot about it until just now." Said Hermione as she began rummaging through her trunk. She pulled out a large book and smiled. " I thought you guys might find a use for this." 

" With a book like that? Are you kidding?" Ron asked, looking at the sheer size of the book. Harry looked at it and started laughing. 

" Oh Ron, I think you'll like this." He said with a grin. Ron gave Harry a puzzled look as Hermione held the large book. Ron started laughing and took the book from Hermione.

" _1001 Tricks For Your Pet Ferret._ That's bloody brilliant!" Ron said with a laugh while he flipped through the pages of the large book. " Oh, I think we'll find a use for this, don't you Harry?" Harry laughed and nodded. Hermione just smiled. 

" It serves him right. I can't stand his kind." She said while she pulled out another book '_Standard Book Of Spells, Grade 5_' and immersed herself in reading it. Harry and Ron spent the next fifteen minutes flipping through '_1001 Trick For Your Pet Ferret'_ and laughing as they imagined Malfoy doing half of them. When the witch with the food cart came by, Harry bought a large stack of Cauldron Cakes, a box of Chocolate Frogs, and some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. Just as he was handing them out, their compartment door swung open and Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle all walked in. 

" Well, look at who it is." Malfoy sneered while Crabbe and Goyle guffawed stupidly. 

" Malfoy, glad you could drop in." Ron said, giving Harry a wink. Harry just smiled in return while Hermione laughed behind her book. Malfoy's face fell. 

" What are you laughing about Mudblood?" He spat. Hermione just silently continued to laugh behind her book. Ron stood up and walked in front of Malfoy. 

" Ok, sit! Sit! Come on, sit!" He said in a baby voice. Malfoy raised an eyebrow. 

" _What_ on earth are you doing??" He asked, totally bewildered. Harry picked up _'1001 Tricks For Your Pet Ferret'_ and looked at the page it was opened to. 

" I don't think you're doing it right Ron, look." He said, holding the book out to Ron. " It says that you have to speak slowly as it might not understand at first. So you have to do a baby voice and speak slowly all at the same time so it will understand." He said, Ron nodded.  Malfoy was totally bewildered. Seeing his look, Harry held up the book so that the cover was facing him. A venomous look crossed Malfoy's face. 

" We got it in Diagon Alley." Ron said with a smile.

 " So you have to be a good little boy and do what it says." Harry said very slowly in a baby voice. Malfoy sneered, but couldn't seem to find anything to say, so he just walked out, motioning for Crabbe and Goyle to follow. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all started laughing. And they continued to laugh until they were on the verge of tears. The rest of the ride to Hogwarts didn't seem to last much longer after that, but it may have had something to do with the fact that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and everyone that stopped by their compartment where to busy laughing and reminiscing about " Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret, that was now learning to sit too" as Ron put it. When the train came to a stop, the three of them filed out of the scarlet steam engine with all the other students and onto the platform. 

" Hello Hagrid!" Harry shouted, seeing the large man that was the gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Not to mention a good friend. He looked at Harry and smiled through his wild tangle of a beard. 

" All righ' you three?" Hagird called back, waving a gigantic hand. " See yeh at the feast!" He called as Harry, Ron, and Hermione all started off toward the horseless carriages that would take them to Hogwarts. The thee of them shared a carriage with Neville and Seamus Finnigan, another boy who was a fifth year Gryffindor with them. Harry gazed out the window as they pasted the large gates flanked with statues of winged boars. Looking out the window, the lights from Hogwarts were just visible glowing softly. The carriages rocked and swayed up the cobblestone drive way that lead to the great castle. They finally reached Hogwarts after about a five-minute ride. 

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into the entrance hall, the first person they came on contact with was the Deputy Headmistress and head of the Gryffindor house, Professor McGonagall. She was a strict witch and wasn't someone who you would cross. She seemed to have no problem with getting students to respect her. She looked at the students and nodded as they walked past and filed into the Great Hall. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked past the Slytherin table, and continued on pasted the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables until they came to the Gryffindor house table that sat on the far side of the Great Hall. Harry took his seat beside Fred and George, who were laughing loudly with their friend Lee Jordan and discussing Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Nearly Headless Nick smiled at Harry. 

" Hello there." He said with a smile. Nick was dressed in his usual style clothes and rather large ruff to keep his head steady on his practically severed neck. 

" Hello Nick." Harry, Ron, and Hermione echoed together. He smiled at them.

" Ah, another year." Nick said happily, looking around at the students. " It's just not the same during the summer holidays. I'd take the boisterous students over Peeves any day." He said. Harry could understand this, Peeves the poltergeist wasn't the nicest person, and he probably didn't make better company during the summer holidays than he did during the school year. Ron let out a groan from beside Harry. 

" Hurry up! I'm so hungry I could eat an entire heard of hippogriffs!" Ron exclaimed loudly. Now that he mentioned it, Harry did feel very hungry. The Cauldron Cakes and Chocolate Frogs seemed ages ago, and his stomach didn't seem to want to wait much longer. No sooner than Harry had concluded this, the doors to the Great Hall swung open and Professor McGonagall marched in with a group of terrified looking first years who were looking around the Great Hall in amazement. A few pointed up at the enchanted ceiling which showed what the skies outside looked like. When the first years got the front, Professor McGonagall walked to the side of the staff table and picked up a three-legged stool, an old hat, and a roll of parchment. She set the stool and hat down in front of the staff table and stood beside it. For a while, there was a long silence. Then a rip near the brim of the hat opened up like the mouth and the hat began to sing. 

_" Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep you bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can top them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on, and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid to toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their find;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a thinking cap!"_

Once the hat had finished it's song, everyone cheered loudly and whistled. The hall feel silent as Professor McGonagall began to speak to the first years.

" When I call your name, you will put the hat on your head and sit on the stool." Professor McGonagall explained to the first years. " When the hat announces your House, you will go and sit at the appropriate table." She said, unrolling the parchment. But Harry wasn't listening to McGonagall. He was to busy staring at the enchanted ceiling, lost in thought about nothing really. He was just…thinking. He was thinking about his past years, and all the things that had happened, and wondering if this year, he would finally get to have a normal year. He was wondering where Sirius was at that very moment, and if he was having a good time, and if he was ok. Idle thoughts of nothing in particular ran through his mind, for how long, he didn't know. He was pulled out of his lazy thoughts by the voice of the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. 

" Welcome to new year at Hogwarts!" He said, holding his arms our wide, as if nothing in the world pleased him more than to see all the students there. " I have but two words I'd like to say before we start our feast, and they are: _Tuck in!" _

" Hear, hear!!" Harry and Ron shouted loudly as they bagged their forks on the table. No sooner than the words had left their mouths, then did all the golden plates and goblets fill themselves with food and pumpkin juice. Harry didn't waste any time in filling his plate up as much food as it was possible. 

" Aaah, 'ats mu'h be'er!" Ron said through a mouthful of potatoes. Harry nodded and bit off a rather large 

chunk of chicken off of his chicken leg. 

" 'Er-my-knee, cou'd you pass de pu'ing?" Ron asked Hermione while spraying the table with bits of potato. Hermione made a face of disgust and shook her head while she handed him the Yorkshire pudding. After everyone had eaten their fill, which for some was longer than others, Dumbledore stood up and smiled warmly at the students. 

" I have a few announcements to make now that everyone has had their fill of food and drink." He said, the talking and laughing died off the instant he had began talking. " This year, the Quidditch matches will proceed as usual. And I have also been asked to remind students that yo-yos, magic tops, and such things should be kept out of the corridors and classes. As always, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students, first years or otherwise. Magic is not be used in the corridors or between classes. All these rules are posted in Mr. Filch's office." Dumbledore paused and smiled. He looked back at the staff table nodded and cleared his throat. 

" As we all know, Professor Moody will not be teaching Defense Against the Darks Arts this year, so may I introduce this years Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who is making return, Professor Remus Lupin!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione gapped as they watched Lupin wave at the students while cheers erupted from all the house tables, with the exception of the Slytherin table of course. Harry wondered why he hadn't noticed Lupin sitting at the staff table earlier. Dumbledore smiled and clapped as well. Harry nudged Ron and Hermione and pointed to Snape who was looking at Lupin as if he were something nasty on the bottom of his shoe. It was the look of complete loathing that Harry knew only to well. 

" Now, we have one more addition to the staff." Dumbledore began. The whole hall feel silent once more and all eyes where on Dumbledore. " It was brought to my attention, that capable though our gamekeeper Hagrid may be, the school grounds are simply to large for him to be everywhere at once. Therefore, I would like to introduce our new Assistant Gamekeeper, Sirius Weatherly!" Dumbledore said with a smile while all the students looked at him in shock, from the name more than anything. Whispers began floating around as students asked each other if Dumbledore had really said the name 'Sirius'. A young man stood up from beside Hagird at the staff table. He had dark hair and dark eyes that looked very kind, as he looked around at the students. There was a mild applause for the new teacher. As Harry looked at him, he couldn't help but see something very familiar about the man, and, it seemed, neither could Ron or Hermione. 

" He looks awfully familiar doesn't he?" Hermione said to Ron and Harry while she looked at the young man. 

" He certainly does." Ron commented. Harry didn't take his eyes off of him, wondering what was so familiar about him. The man's eyes stopped Harry, and much to Harry's amazement, he winked. Then it clicked. 

" Looks like an escaped convict, if you ask me." Harry said with a smile and clapped louder. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry for a minute before finally understanding what he meant. They looked at the new teacher and apparently saw it to. 

" I don't believe it!" Hermione shrieked. She sounded worried and excited at the same time. Ron just gapped as all three of them clapped louder. " Is he insane?!" Hermione continued, clapper still louder. 

" Right then! Off to bed you go!" Dumbledore said with a warm smile. This was their chance. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all rushed up to the staff table where Lupin and 'Sirius Weatherly' where talking. They both looked at the trio as the approached. Both of them smiled. 

" Hello Harry." Lupin said with a warm smile. He looked rather tired, but that might have had something do with the fact that the full moon had only been but a few nights before. Before Harry, Ron, or Hermione could say anything, Sirius smiled at them, a look of mischief was sparkling in his eyes.

" Hello Harry." He said his smile only grew larger. " Sorry, I would have told you, but I didn't want you to freak out. You remind me of my good old Mum, always worrying about something." Harry couldn't help but grin. 

" It's amazing! I wouldn't have known it was you if Harry hadn't said something!" Hermione said with a shocked look. Sirius nodded.

" Yeah, it's amazing what a few little changes in clothes and a tan can do! Not to mention a few little temporary charms." He said with a thoughtful nod. " But I suspect you lot had better be off to bed. We don't want anyone getting…suspicious." The last word was said with a bit of venom as Sirius cast a looked of pure loathing to Snape, who was all too willing to give him an equal look. After bidding Sirius and Lupin good night, the three of them headed to the common room. They chanced upon Seamus, who had spilt his sweets on the floor after a run in with Neville, whom was also helping him pick up the sweets. Harry, Ron, and Hermione helped Seamus and Neville pick up all the sweets and went into the common room after saying the password ("Canis Major") and then to their dorms. Neville and Seamus both stayed in the common room to talk to Dean Thomas, which Harry and Ron didn't mind at all.

" You know, I suspect that all those years in Azkaban turned him into a nutter." Ron said as he shut the dorm room door. Harry laughed. 

" Maybe, but—Oh, hello Hedwig, why aren't you in the Owlery?" He asked the snowy owl as she landed on his outstretched arm. She hooted and nibbled his ear affectionately. 

" Harry, she has something on her leg." Ron said, pointing to a piece of parchment that was tied to Hedwig's leg. Harry gave the owl a curious look and took the letter off. As soon as he did, the owl hooted and then flew out the window, heading out to hunt for that night. Harry and Ron exchanged worried glances before Harry opened the letter that was written in the same sliver ink and began to read aloud with a shaking voice:__

_         Dear Mr. Potter,_

_             Hold your friends close, but hold your enemies closer. Trust your first instincts, but remember the first bit of advice I gave you. Some times, the people who you think are your friends can turn out to be the most dangerous. Keep a weary eye out young Harry. We are in the most unexpected of areas. _

~ End Chapter 5 

--------

Author's Note: Ok, there it is. Since I wasn't creative enough to come up with my own song for the Sorting Hat to sing, he just sung the same one he did in the first book. I really suck at poetry or making things go to a rhythm or rhyme. Oh well. Anyways, please R&R and tell me what you think. All flames, comments, and criticisms are welcome! ^_^;;


	6. Potions, Mysteries, and Messages

-----------------------

Chapter 6: Potions, Mysteries, and Messages

------------------------

" Hedwig brought this to you…?" Sirius asked Harry while he passed the letters to Lupin, who took it and sat down at his desk. Harry and Ron both nodded. They hadn't waste any time in telling Sirius and Lupin, but that was partly because Hermione threatened to tell on both Harry and Ron if they kept it quiet. They had also brought the letter that Harry had found in his trunk (Hermione threatened to tell about that one too). 

" 'We are closer than you think'. It doesn't sound like something Voldemort would say, does it?" Lupin asked in a very off-handed way. Sirius shook his head. 

" No, it doesn't. And that's what's bothering me." He said while he started to pace in front of Harry, Ron, and Hermione all the while rubbing his chin in deep thought. After a while he stopped and looked back at Harry. " In the letter you wrote me, you said that you had seen someone at the potions shop and at Flourish and Blotts. Did this person say anything?" 

" No, nothing." Harry said, shaking his head. 

" Did you see any part of their face?" He asked Harry again, who just shook his head in response. Sirius frowned and started pacing again. 

" What I want to know is how this person got Hedwig to give the message to Harry. Owls don't usually go to someone that they haven't been sent to. They're very cautious creatures when it comes to strangers." Lupin said after a while, Sirius nodded grimly. 

" Exactly. Owls don't trust many people that they don't know." He said while he paced in a circle. Hermione looked shocked. 

" Are you saying that the person that's sending these letters to Harry is someone we know?" She asked while she fidgeted in her seat in front of Lupin's desk. Lupin and Sirius both nodded. 

" It could be. But who…?" Sirius mumbled to himself.  

" What about Malfoy? He hates Harry." Ron said with a thoughtful look. Lupin shook his head. 

" I doubt it. Draco and Harry have their differences, but I don't think that he would. Besides, I doubt that Hedwig would go to him. They are great judges of character, owls are." He said while he waved his hand. Sirius sighed loudly and sat back on Lupin's desk. 

" You lot go get some sleep. We'll take these up to Dumbledore and see what he makes of them. But I want you all to go strait to bed. You all have classes tomorrow." He said with a stern look. Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded. " And if any more letters come, I want you to bring them strait to me, Remus, or Dumbledore, understood?" Sirius gave Harry a particularly stern look. Harry nodded. Sirius then ushered them out of Lupin's office and sent them strait to bed. But seeing as he didn't take them to their dorms, the three of them stayed in the empty common room talking and thinking about who the mysterious letter sender could have been. It was nearly dawn before Harry, Ron, or Hermione went to sleep. 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Classes the next day where nothing short of pure torture. Harry couldn't keep his mind on his work and did nothing but worry and doze. He kept thinking about the letters and cursing himself for telling Sirius or Lupin. Neither of them needed to worry even more about him. The bell that dismissed Transfiguration couldn't have been more welcome. 

" Harry? Are you ok?" Hermione asked, giving him a worried sideways glance while they walked out of the classroom.  

" I'm fine." He said tiredly. As the three of them dropped their stuff off in the Gryffindor common room and headed for lunch. 

" Maybe you should skip lunch and the next class and just go to bed. You look like the living dead." Ron said, jumping the trick stair. Harry smiled. 

" You shouldn't be saying anything. The both of you look just as tired. Besides, we have Defense Against the Dark Arts next." Harry said with a thoughtful sigh, wishing to himself that he didn't have Lupin's class so he could just go to sleep. 

" Too bad we didn't have Care of Magical Creatures today. Fred and George said that 'Mr. Weatherly' was helping with Hagrid's lessons." Ron said as sat himself down beside Harry. Harry nodded. 

" Yeah, I wonder if he's had trouble with any of the creatures." Harry mused. A picture of Sirius riding a Blast-ended Skerwt like a cowboy would a horse popped into his head, causing him to smile while he piled food onto his plate. Hermione sighed while she looked at the food on the table. Ron snorted. 

" Don't tell me you are still obsessed with house-elves." He said while he stuffed a rather large bit of tripe in his mouth. Hermione frowned. 

" Of course I am! It's still slave labor!" She said loudly while she helped herself. 

" Honestly! They _like_ doing things like this! I don't know why you can't let it go." Ron said in a very annoyed manner. 

" I wouldn't expect you to understand." Hermione countered with a bit of an edge to her voice. Ron's ears went red but he didn't say anything. The rest of lunch was rather quiet. Neither Ron or Hermione said a thing to the other. When lunch was finally over, Harry, Ron, and Hermione gathered their things from the Gryffindor tower and practically ran to Defense Against the Dark Arts. But it seemed that they weren't the only ones that were happy about Lupin's return. In fact, when arrived, half of the class was full with students waiting patiently in their seats. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took their seats in the front of the class and pulled out their books. Harry looked at his book and then back to Hermione. 

" You knew Lupin would be teaching this year, didn't you?" He asked. Hermione nodded and smiled. 

" Of course. Well, it was just a feeling really. I was still a bit surprised when I saw him." She said very matter-of-factly. A few short minutes later Lupin walked into the classroom in his patched and frayed robes, caring his battered briefcase. He walked to his desk, sat his briefcase down and turned to class with a smile resting on his tired face. 

" Good afternoon everyone." He said, still smiling. " You can put your books away, you only need them for the few homework assignments you'll be given. Right then, this year, we will continue with creatures but we also learn some curses and counter-curses. By the end of this year, I would like to have had you learn forty-six new curses and counter-curses, and twenty-eight new creatures." He said and took his wand out of his briefcase while adding " That is, assuming we get through this first lesson without any problems." A few kids exchanged some worried glances and Neville gulped lightly. It turned out that their first lesson was how to kill and control a zombie. The lesson went by rather smoothly and all the students, including Neville, had a fairly easy time with it, but that was mainly because Lupin was such a good teacher and just seemed to bring out the best in his students. After everyone had been dismissed, Lupin called Harry, Ron, and Hermione up to the front. 

" Are you lot all right?" He asked kindly while he straitened out some papers on his desk and put them in his briefcase. 

" We're fine." Harry said while Ron and Hermione nodded. Lupin nodded. 

" After Potions you three go strait to Dumbledore's office," He said while walking them to the door and stifling a yawn. " Padfoot and I will be waiting for you there." Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged confused looks, but nodded in agreement. 

" Right then, off you go so Snape doesn't have a reason to take off the points I gave to Gryffindor." Lupin said before bidding the trio goodbye.

" I wonder what Dumbledore wants?" Ron asked as they half-ran to potions, not wanting to get on Snape's bad side so early in the year. Though, for Harry, just being alive was more than enough to put him on the venomous teacher's bad side. 

" Isn't in obvious?? I bet it has something to do with those letters! Maybe Dumbledore knows who it is!" Hermione answered half annoyed half excited. 

" Do you really think so?" Harry asked, hoping that it would be the case. Maybe he wouldn't have to worry anymore, maybe Dumbledore could stop it. Hermione nodded.

" Sure, it's possible." She said as they came to the dungeon door.  The conversation dropped immediately as Hermione opened the door and walked in. Snape looked up from taking role, and much to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's surprise, he didn't look quite right. There where dark circles under his eyes and he seemed somehow paler than usual, but what struck Harry the most was the fact that his eyes had changed. They were usually blank and made you think of dark tunnels, but now, there was something in them. But what it was, Harry didn't know. Harry gave a start and was pulled out of his thoughts by Snape's voice. 

" Five points from Gryffindor each. Sit down." This simple statement also caught Harry off guard. Not to mention the look of indifference that Snape wore. Usually he would have sneered, said something sarcastic, and taken about twenty points from each of them. But not now. His voice and face were void of all sarcasm and nastiness, there was…nothing. Simply nothing. It was unnerving really, Harry thought as he sat down with Ron and Hermione on either side of him. After Snape was done taking role, he began writing on the board the list of ingredients they would need for today's recovery potion. When he was done, he went about telling them how to make it and demonstrated the proper stirring method. Then, he simply turned them loose. There where no warnings or insults to anyone, not even Neville. 

" What's up with Snape?" Ron asked quietly as he shot an unnerved look to Snape. Harry set out his ingredients and shrugged. 

" I don't know, but it's weird. He would have usually said _something_ sarcastic, or insulting and rude. Maybe he's sick…" Harry said. Hermione shook her head doubtfully.

" No, I doubt that. If he was sick he would be even more of a git than usual wouldn't he? And why is he teaching if he's sick?" She asked while she measured out the correct amount of armadillo bile. 

" He certainly looks sick." Ron commented quietly. Harry looked over at Snape and watched him look around the room without barking out anything at all. No complements to the Slytherins, no insults to any Gryffindor, he just simply watched them. The class was going by rather quietly, and would have continued to go that way for the last ten minutes, if Neville's toad Trevor hadn't knocked in the entire bottle of beetle eyes into his potion. There was a deafening explosion and the potion spewed out of the cauldron and all over the other students. There were shouts and shrieks from most of the students while everyone ran to the other half of the room. Almost as quick as it had started, it stopped, and the potion gave a final spit and hiss before falling inactive. Snape, who was now standing a few feet away from Neville's cauldron, looked around at all the students. Everyone seemed to be fine. He then turned to Neville, who whimpered and looked down. 

" I-I-I…I'm s-s-sorry P-professor Snape…I…" He started, but Snape cut in quickly. 

" Longbottom, how many times must I tell you to keep that toad out of my dungeon? Ten points from Gryffindor," He said. Everyone including Neville looked stunned by the fact that Snape had said this like a normal human, there was no yelling or anything, his voice had stayed completely indifferent. The bell rang, but no one dared to move. 

" Homework is to write an essay no shorter than one scroll on the differences of recovery and healing potions. Dismissed." Most of the students stood stunned for a few seconds and then gathered their things rather quickly, and left, most of them slightly afraid by the Potions Master's odd manner. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stayed behind to help poor Neville clean up his mess. 

" I'll clean it up, Longbottom." Snape said from his desk, surprising all four of them. He didn't have to tell any of them twice however, they all gathered their things and left the dungeon. Harry shot a quick glance back only to see Snape massaging temples. Neville, who was mainly in shock from not getting in trouble or

insulted didn't even notice when Harry, Ron, and Hermione bid him good-bye after dropping their stuff off. 

" …I reckon some one has kidnapped the real Snape and is using Polyjuice Potion to take his place." Ron said with shocked look while they walked down the hall toward Dumbledore's office. 

" But who would _want_ to be Snape?" Harry asked, thinking back on Snape's unusual behavior. 

" A nutter most likely." Ron replied with a shrug. Hermione was about to say something, but stopped after spotting Sirius and Lupin by the gargoyle that lead to Dumbledore's office. Sirius looked over at Harry and waved him over. 

" Harry! You're late! Just like a true Marauder!" He said with a big grin. Harry forced a smile as they walked up to Lupin and Sirius. 

" Right then, let's go…" Lupin said and turned to the gargoyle, but stopped and looked at Sirius as if he was trying not to laugh. " Padfoot…I think you should do it…I don't think I could say it even if I tried…" He said, trying very hard to hold back a laugh. Sirius nodded and stepped up the gargoyle, opened his mouth to say something, but instead just started laughing. After seeing Sirius laugh, Lupin lost what control he had and started laughing to. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared, each wondering what was causing these two grown men to laugh so hard. After a few minutes of laughter, Sirius and Lupin straitened up and looked at the gargoyle. 

" Well…it seems we have a problem Moony, because I cant seem to say it either." Sirius said, holding back a grin that threatened to spread across his face. Lupin took a deep breath and walked up to the gargoyle. 

" B…" He started, but had to stop again to stifle a laugh. " Banana hammock." He said after a great struggle not to laugh. Sirius looked over at Lupin while the gargoyle jumped aside. But Ron beat them to laughing. Hearing Ron, Harry started to laugh, and Hermione was suddenly overcome by a case of the giggles. Finally, Sirius and Lupin let out loud howls of laughter. They all walked inside onto the moving stairs, still laughing. When they reached the top, there were only a few stifled laughs here and there. Lupin knocked and then walked in, with the others following. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk smiling lightly as he always did. 

" Ah, there you are." He said with a gesture toward the comfortable, and very squishy looking chairs that sat in front of his desk. Harry walked into the beautiful office and sat down in one that sat right in front of Dumbledore's desk. After everyone had chosen seat. Sirius looked at Dumbledore with the same grin. 

" You know Headmaster, I love your new password." He said, trying not laugh and causing Lupin to snort. Dumbledore smiled merrily. 

" Yes, but I suspect that it poses a problem. Every time I try to get into my office, I am overcome by a sever case of the giggles." He said, causing everyone to snort with laughter. " If you like that Sirius, then I suspect that you will find a joke I heard this summer quite humorous…" Dumbledore started, but was cut off by someone clearing their throat. Everyone looked back at the doorway: It was Professor McGonagall.

" But it will have to wait." He said while McGonagall handed him a piece of parchment and then took a seat in the last chair. Harry was just going ask why he, Ron, and Hermione where called up when Dumbledore looked up at him. 

" I'm sure the three of you are wondering why I asked you here." The three of them nodded. " Sirius and Remus brought me the letters last night. I looked over them, and I can say with full confidence that they were not written by Voldemort." Dumbledore adjusted his half moon spectacles and picked up the napkin from the ice cream shop and glanced at it. 

" Do you know who is writing them sir?" Harry asked. Dumbledore put the napkin down and peered at him. 

" Yes, I think I know who is writing them." He began. Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaned forward. " I spoke with Author, and he has told me some rather alarming news. It seems that the Ministry is still denying the return of Voldemort, thus causing important information to not be released." Dumbledore said, while the twinkle that was usually in his eyes faded. " Because of what I have heard, I believe that the person writing to you, is in fact, a young Mystic woman by the name of Rayne Riddle." Everyone but Harry and Hermione seemed grasp the meaning of this sentence instantly. Sirius and Lupin were looking shocked, McGonagall looked very grave, Ron looked like he had just come face to face with Voldemort, and Dumbledore looked very serious. But then something hit Harry very hard. 

" Riddle? You mean…she's Voldemort's…?" Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair and nodded. 

" Yes, in a way, Rayne Riddle is indeed Voldemort's daughter." He said calmly. Ron shook his head and looked at Dumbledore in disbelief. 

" Professor Dumbledore, there must be some kind of mistake. She…she was killed…wasn't she? I…I mean, when You-Know-Who fell, she went too." Ron stammered, not believing what he was hearing. Dumbledore shook his head. 

" No Mr. Weasley, she is very much alive. The Ministry only said that because they didn't want the public to go into panic. The fact is, Ms. Riddle is very much alive. She fled when Voldemort fell and went into hiding. The Ministry never found her." Dumbledore replied. Ron gawked. 

" Excuse me Sir." Hermione said from her chair. Dumbledore looked at her and nodded. " But…I read all the books on the Dark Lord, but I never found anything on anyone named Rayne Riddle. She was never mentioned." She said quietly. Much to everyone's surprise, Dumbledore smiled. 

" Well, you are right. She was never put into any books." 

" Oh…who was she exactly?" Hermione asked, again Dumbledore smiled, but it was Sirius who answered this time. 

" Rayne Riddle was a Mystic. The last one I believe. Not much is known about her, but it's believed that she was the power behind Voldemort's rule. But no one can be sure because she was never seen." He said with a grim look.  

" Then how do you know there was even some one named Rayne Riddle?" Harry asked. 

" A lot of the Death Eaters that came forward were given vertaserum and every one of them said that a Mystic by the name of Rayne Riddle played a key role in all of Voldemort's plans, but she was never seen." Sirius said. No one moved for a minute, until Harry thought of something else that he didn't understand. 

" What's a Mystic?" 

" A Mystic is…well, it's hard to explain really." Lupin said while he rubbed his chin in thought. " The definition of a Mystic is 'an infinite abundance of magical energy that takes a human form'. But that isn't really accurate. Mystics are the strongest magical creatures there are, stronger than any human could ever hope to be. But, not much is known about them. They lived in seclusion mainly, hardly any one set foot in Mysidia if they were not a Mystic." 

" Why are you telling us this sir?" Ron asked after a few seconds. Dumbledore smiled kindly and the twinkle seemed to return to his eyes. 

" Because, you two are Harry's closest friends, he would have told you without a doubt. But I also wanted the both of you to know because you are Harry's friends, and being so, if Rayne Riddle is really after Harry, she could come after you too. Knowledge of what you are facing can help you in preparing for anything that may happen." Dumbledore said quietly. Ron and Hermione looked at him for a moment and then nodded. 

" Well then! I do believe it is time for dinner." He said, replacing his usual merry expression. " Run along now, and don't breathe a word any one, I don't want the students knowing just yet." Everyone stood up and nodded. As Harry began to walk to the door, one last question popped into his mind. 

" Professor?" Dumbledore looked up. " What's wrong with Professor Snape? He seems so…different." Harry said. Ron and Hermione stopped and looked back. Even Lupin and Sirius looked at Dumbledore. 

" I'm afraid he's under a great deal of duress." Dumbledore said sadly. " But it is nothing that you need worry about." The tone in his voice clearly said that is was not something would be discussed. Harry nodded and walked out of the office with Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Lupin closely behind. No one really said much as they walked down the hall and to the Great Hall. 

" Well Harry. Be careful ok? I'll see you in Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow. I promised Hagrid I'd help him some of the creatures, though I'm beginning to regret it…" He trailed with grin. Lupin shrugged. 

" A promise is a promise Padfoot." Sirius looked at Lupin and nodded. 

" I know I know. Besides, since when have I ever broken my promises Moony?" He asked as he started toward the main doors. 

" How about in our fifth year when you told your mum you wouldn't cause any trouble?" Lupin shouted after him. Sirius turned around and smiled. 

" I said I'd _try_! I didn't say I would for sure!!" He said with a loud laugh before walking out of the main doors. Lupin laughed after him and shook his head. The four of them walked into the Great Hall. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat down at an empty part of the table and began talking quietly about Rayne Riddle and what it all meant. Harry hardly ate anything while Ron told him all he knew about Rayne Riddle. After they were done, they all three headed back to the Gryffindor common room. Looking around at the common room, Harry realized just how tired he was. A yawn from Ron told him that he agreed. Hermione rubbed her eyes and looked at them. 

" We should get some sleep. We were up late last night." She said with a yawn. 

" Yeah, I'm bloody tired." Ron said, fighting off a yawn. The three of them then headed up the stairs and into their separate dorms. Harry stopped dead and looked at his four-poster in disbelief. 

" The word sleep never…" Ron began, only to stop at the look on Harry's face. He looked over and his jaw dropped. " _Bloody hell…_" 

That was the perfect way to describe what they saw. The hangings on Harry's bed were ripped and burnt, and something was glowing silver on Harry's sheets. Slowly, Harry walked up to his four-poster and gulped. It was silver inked writing that covered his entire blanket. The wind from the opened window ruffled his hair while he read: 

                                             _The lion and the Unicorn fight on Eve_        

~End chapter 6

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Everything except for Rayne Riddle and the plot line all belong to J.K. Rowling.


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